Someday soon, this dusty Lakeside corner will become a row of neat townhouses that disabled U.S. military veterans call home — not just rental homes, but forever homes with wheelchair ramps or handrails in the shower.

It’s a new direction for the national nonprofit group, which traditionally serves poor families who might not otherwise qualify for a mortgage.

Calling the initiative “Building for the Brave,” Habitat for Humanity officials said this is likely the first of a series of projects for San Diego County's disabled veterans.

They join the efforts of other nonprofit groups that are doing everything from offering low-cost, short-term apartments for injured combat veterans to signing over foreclosed houses to recent Purple Heart recipients.

The San Diego region is home to more than 30,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, one of the largest concentrations in the nation.

A few of those veterans may soon reside in Lakeside. By next summer, what’s now a dirt lot will hold four townhouse units, with four bedrooms each.

“There was a house on this site that was termite-infested, and we needed to take it down,” said Lori Holt Pfeiler, executive director of the San Diego Habitat for Humanity chapter. “We looked at the opportunity and said, ‘What can we do? How can we serve?’ What better thing to do for the region than to look at how we can serve veterans and the wounded veterans.”

Habitat officials are still seeking candidates for these units. They’ve held informational meetings at Camp Pendleton and San Diego Naval Medical Center in Balboa Park, but the application process is open through the group’s website, sdhfh.org.

“We hope to find the families soon, so we can tailor to their needs,” Pfeiler said.

For disabled veterans, the organization may have to modify its usual “sweat equity” requirement.

Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity builds housing around the United States for needy families who are willing to pitch in on the work. The San Diego chapter is 25 years old and has built 187 homes in that time.

Usually, the organization has three major requirements. Clients must earn less than 80 percent of the region’s median income, which was $68,300 for a three-person household last year in San Diego. For a wounded veteran living on disability payments, this criteria might not be hard to meet.

Clients must also be willing to shoulder a zero-interest mortgage, which for the Lakeside project expected to be about $1,080 a month. And, they must volunteer 250 to 500 hours working on the construction site.

In the case of wounded military veterans, family members may be the ones swinging the hammer. Or, the veteran may log hours at Habitat’s office or its Mission Valley retail store, Pfeiler said.

Another new military-oriented project by Habitat is called Repair Corps. Nationally, the Home Depot Foundation has donated $2.7 million to help more than 260 veterans make repairs to their dwellings.

In the San Diego region, Home Depot gave $135,000 to fix nine homes at up to $15,000 each. Habitat officials decided to raise money to expand the effort to at least 13 residences. Work began in November, said Repair Corps Superintendent Dale Maxwell.

In Lakeside, volunteers from Cox Communications dug the first holes for fence posts and sawed the first four-by-fours on Lakeshore Drive, a busy street corner next to a freeway overpass.

About 15 volunteers will labor at the site each day until the job is done. This volunteerism is how Habitat for Humanity is able to build low-cost homes.

The group’s San Diego branch has faced upheaval and controversy over the past two years.

An almost entirely new board of directors was installed in December 2011 following an investigation into the charity’s handling of $700,000 in donations related to the 2007 wildfires.

Officials have acknowledged that the money had been misspent, though it paid for other charity projects. At one point, County Supervisor Dianne Jacob called on District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to investigate.

Pfeiler, a former Escondido mayor, was named executive director in May.

Jacob spoke at Wednesday’s event.

“Habitat for Humanity San Diego has had kind of a rough go of it over the past couple of years,” she said. “To me, this groundbreaking today represents a rebirth of this organization, a renewal, a refocusing on what’s important.”